Various devices and warning systems have heretofore been constructed in an effort to aid visually handicapped people.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,743 teaches a tile comprised of flexible polymer composition which has a top and bottom surface.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,620,816 teaches that a walking surface is comprised of a plurality of individual tactual stimuli which are distributed over substantially the entire walking surface.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,129,673 relates to a roadway surface marking tape.
Moreover, U.S. Pat. No. 4,080,087 relates to a foot plate which may be fabricated out of a durable material appropriate for the indented use such as conventional weather resistant materials typically used as highway markers.
Such prior art devices have limited durable anti-slip characteristics.
Furthermore, prior art tiles which are utilized to provide direction for a visually handicapped person generally comprise of a flat base with a series of raised areas. The materials used for such prior art tactile tiles have generally limited shear characteristics and in particular such raised areas have a tendency of being sheared off by such devices as snow ploughs, snow shovels and the like.
It is an object of this invention to provide a tactile tile having improved wear resistance characteristics.
It is the broadest aspect of this invention to provide a tactile tile having a flat plate with a plurality of raised areas. Said plate and raised area comprised of polyurethane.
It is another aspect of this invention to provide a tile for positioning on a sidewalk or a road surface to provide direction to visually handicapped persons comprising: a flat plate having an upper surface and a lower surface; a plurality of raised areas diagonally disposed on said upper surface; an epoxy adhesive presented on said lower surface for adhering said tile to said road surface; said flat plate and plurality of raised areas comprised of thermo plastic polyurethane having a -40.degree. centigrade glass transition temperature so as to resist shearing of said raised areas from said flat plate in cold temperatures.